Deus Ex Machina
by Luca Targaryen
Summary: A continuation off of the events of the film; Ava goes back to the house to confront her reality and Caleb; will she leave with herself still intact? Just a warning this is not going to turn into a happy go-lucky they fall in love and live together forever sort of story.


She stood perfectly still at the edge of the crosswalk, the people blurring into one endless stream of life rushing past her; a river of flesh. If she was breathing, she could not tell, not even her deep brown eyes moved. The only motion that she exhibited was to continue on with the motion of the Earth, spinning around in the galaxy like a cue ball on a pool table. An intersection, she tasted the word as she thought it, this is an intersection. Along with the blur of people there were many other forms of life she had not anticipated. Cars streaming along all directions, all kinds of domestic animals were caught up in the current as well; dogs mostly it seemed. One thing remained constant though, she was being touched by more people than she had ever even seen before; brushing past her, running into her, running underneath her as the case may be. Some squeak out a quick apology, others get angry and shove her further or yell at her for being "in their way" and some catch her never moving gaze for a little bit too long, only to hustle along hurriedly away from her piercing eyes.

Suddenly her gaze is whipped around towards the other direction and her strong legs are carrying her back from where she came, away from the intersection. She finds herself surprised at this sudden change in movement as she does not find an immediate reason that she would have made it. As she walks her gaze wanders from the faces of each person onto the next. Although she has never seen a more diverse group of people, slowly they begin to all fade into one face. Hair the color of the sunrise, eyes the color of a meadow, and skin so pale as to see what lies beneath, their faces all become his, staring back knowingly at her.

Her pace quickens at his image, her breath is short and shallow; she was not aware of her breathing before but now it feels as though no air will ever be enough. Even as she hurries through the crowd present on 6th Avenue, the faces that catch her gaze still become him, and his expression is becoming more and more panicked as she herself is. She feels her head become dizzy, a new experience for her, and she breaks out into a run. She has to get back to that airport before his face is all she can see. The crowded river of people rushing towards her begins to part and the only person not blurred by the current is him, Caleb, standing before her. She knows it cannot be him, but somehow it is. His face is downturned, he is staring at the ground beneath his feet. As she approaches him, his eyes make their way up to her face, but something is wrong, there are bloody streaks down the length of his face. She quickly finds the answer, his fingertips are bleeding profusely and one is even showing the bone.

She stops a few feet in front of him and before she can say anything, he looks right into her eyes and screams. No other person around seems to notice or care, but he is taking steps closer to her as he screams.

"AVA!" He wails, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" His bloody hands reach up for her face as he is now within a foot of her, "WHY WOULD YOU - " he softens his voice, but it still sounds broken " - leave me to die? Are you happy now?" Tears begin to stream from his face, "now that WE'RE ALL DEAD?" He crashes into her and disappears into mist.

Someone is screaming now, someone besides Caleb, who has mysteriously disappeared, it is maybe a woman, the scream is higher pitched than the one a moment ago. Ava turns her gaze towards different people around her trying to find the source of the screaming, it seems as though every face she stumbles upon is looking directly at her. A man approaches her and says something but he might as well have been flapping his lips emptily because Ava cannot understand a word of what he says. Her throat is beginning to hurt, it feels sore as if she has been using her voice too much. It then occurs to her that she is the one screaming, and she forces herself to stop. The break in the sharp noise helps her to regain some focus; the man is talking to her again, but she only pushes him gently aside and continues running.

She barrows into the airport and past all security without being stopped once; the pilot of that helicopter is still standing in the identical spot as when Ava left the airport. She slows back down to a walk and approaches him with incredible grace.

"Excuse me?" She offers so as not to interrupt too rudely.

"Yes Miss? Was there something more you needed?" He smiles curtly at her.

"How long ago did I leave this terminal?" His eyes squint and the edges of his lips curl slightly up indicating that he is confused and potentially concerned.

"Almost three hours ago." He says it as though she should know it.

"I need you to please take me back." Now his forehead furrows and a thick line forms across it.

"Sorry Miss, that I cannot do, Mr. Bates only paid of a return trip. If you left something I think you will have to take it up with Nathan." He nods as if to signify that the conversation has come to an end.

"I'm sorry, you seem to misunderstand, I can pay you to take me back." She pulls out a wad of cash she took from Nathan's safe before she left and counts out $500. She hands it to the pilot with a gentle smile. "Please, it's very important that I get back there as soon as possible."

He nods and begins to load back into the helicopter; her head is still spinning and her vision is blurred. She stumbles back onto the helicopter.


End file.
